1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a modular system for a 1 to 4-zone climate control system for vehicles.
2. Related Technology
Air conditioning of vehicles not only serves to meet the comfort requirements of the passengers, but also to enhance safety of road traffic. Thermal comfort in vehicles is quite different from that in buildings. Due to location of the window areas in the upper half of the vehicle, heat radiation, for example, changes dramatically from the head to the foot region.
Particularly high temperatures in the passenger compartment are to be considered critical with respect to the driving condition. In addition to the basic tasks of a climate control system to deliver, clean, temper, dehumidify and distribute air, the special tasks consist in avoiding draught, reducing perspiration of the passengers and maintaining constant a comfort range with respect to temperature and humidity.
Frequently, because of the increased physical strain on the driver, there is a demand when several passengers sit in the vehicle to create a different climate zone for each individual passenger. While in the past 1-zone and 2-zone climate control systems were used for air conditioning vehicles, recent development and introduction of 3-zone and 4-zone climate control systems, or multi-zone climate control systems have been seen.
Whereas the 1-zone and 2-zone climate control systems have symmetric or asymmetric, compact configurations dependent on the installation space available in the vehicle, it is inherent to the multi-zone climate control systems that they are additionally distributed in the vehicle. Thus, the climate control system consists of two air conditioning devices that are at least partly coupled to each other. Such distributed multi-zone climate control systems that include a front air conditioning device and a rear air conditioning device are predominantly used in high-end luxury cars. These distributed climate control systems are very expensive and require much space for installation. Moreover, production and stock-holding of differently configured air tempering and air distribution devices require high efforts and, therefore, result in considerable manufacture costs.
For the above reasons, these multi-zone climate control systems are not found in compact or small cars.
It is the object of the invention to develop a compact multi-zone climate control system that, despite a small installation space, can be especially efficiently manufactured with the number of air distribution and temperature zones desired by the customer.